Rehearsal photographs are out for Singin' in the Rain, the Crucible's Christmas musical in Sheffield, which opens on 26 November and then heads out on a UK and Ireland tour with a summer stop at Sadler's Wells.
Sheffield Theatres has let Johan Persson into the rehearsal room for Singin' in the Rain, and the resulting pictures are the first look at a staging that begins its life in Sheffield before travelling. The production comes from Sheffield Theatres, Chichester Festival Theatre and Stage Entertainment, presented in association with Jonathan Church Theatre Productions, and it runs at the Crucible from Thursday 26 November 2026 to Saturday 16 January 2027 as the theatre's Christmas show.
The principals are all in shot. Grant Almirall plays Don Lockwood and Matthew Maddison is Cosmo Brown, the pair photographed with violins in hand, while Natalie Anderson is Lina Lamont and Nicole-Lily Baisden plays Kathy Selden. Wendi Peters takes Dora Bailey, Dale Rapley is RF Simpson and Jeremy Lloyd plays Roscoe Dexter. Most of these names were first confirmed in September, when the touring company was announced.
The wider company is Charlie Bishop, Grace Chan, Stan Doughty, Barry Drummond, William Elijah-Lewis, Maria Garrett, Alyn Hawke, Megan Jade-Johnson, Chloe Malek, Greta McKinnon, Melissa Mese and Jack Skelton in the ensemble, together with Ross Chisari (dialect coach and ensemble), Ben Middleton (production tenor), Elly Shaw (Zelda Zanders) and Catrin Thomas (Broadway Melody Girl). The swings are Ellis Linford-Pill, who is also resident choreographer and dance captain, and Brontë Macmillan, the assistant dance captain.
The Crucible matters to the show for a practical reason as well as a sentimental one. Church points out that Sheffield audiences will be the first since the original Chichester run to see it on a thrust stage, the configuration it was conceived for: "We are delighted to be working with Sheffield Theatres to bring this wonderful show back to the stage," he said. "For the first time since its original run in Chichester, audiences at Sheffield will be able to see it in its original thrust staging, prior to the show heading out on its UK and Ireland tour."
Elizabeth Newman, artistic director of Sheffield Theatres, framed the booking as a homecoming for the director: "I am beyond excited to welcome Jonathan Church back home, alongside his brilliant team, to create a Crucible production of Singin' in the Rain this Christmas. It is one of the greatest musicals of all time, and with a world-class creative team joining a brilliant company of extraordinarily talented performers, I have no doubt this ensemble will wow our Sheffield audiences this festive period. I truly believe there is nothing better than dancing in the rain and I cannot wait for audiences to experience Jonathan's extraordinary creative vision."
The story is the one familiar from the MGM film. In late-1920s Hollywood, screen idols Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont are the most celebrated couple in pictures, at least according to the fan magazines, until sound arrives, their studio has to make a talkie, and a young unknown is brought in to rescue it. The score includes Good Morning, Make 'em Laugh and the title song, and the design calls for more than 14,000 litres of water on stage.
Church directs, with choreography by Andrew Wright and additional choreography by Jaye Elster. Simon Higlett designs set and costumes, lighting is by Tim Mitchell, sound by Gareth Owen and video by Ian William Galloway. Robert Scott is musical supervisor, Larry Wilcox wrote the orchestrations, with additional orchestrations and reduction by Larry Blank, and Matt Herbert is musical director. Casting is by Olivia Laydon for Jill Green Casting.
The associate team is Brendan Cull (associate director), Kelly Ewins (associate choreographer), Karen J Large (associate costume designer), Joseph Green (associate sound designer) and Benjamin Persaud (associate video designer and editor), with Laurence Belcher as resident director, Ros Jones as assistant musical director, Matt George as wigs supervisor, Russell Swift as orchestra manager and Andrea Hazel Lewis as dialect coach. Malcolm Ranson devised the original fight direction and Kate Waters is the 'Royal Rascal' fight director.
The stage version uses the screenplay by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and the songs of Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed, with the film's original choreography by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen.
Press night at the Crucible is Thursday 3 December 2026 at 7pm. London gets the production next summer, when the tour spends a month at Sadler's Wells from 2 June - 3 July 2027: book Singin' in the Rain for the London dates here.
